This invention is directed to conditioning the access of an end user of a remotely-accessible device by impairing the useful functionality o service, lease, rental or commodity agreement has expired. The remotely-accessible device of the invention will be used by end users who desire to track, monitor and control an object or objects. The remotely-accessible device of the invention can be a tracking device or a monitoring device and is equally applicable in both the telematic and telemetry fields. Objects may be vehicles, equipment, meters, point of sale applications, or any other objects capable of being tracked or monitored. The remotely-accessible device of the invention may be a tracking device used to track or monitor vehicles for a stolen vehicle recovery system, to track, monitor and control a fleet of vehicles, to track, monitor or control leased or rented equipment, to operate or cease operation of leased or rented equipment, and to track, monitor, operate or cease operation of meters.
An object of this invention is to provide a solution to a problem in the remotely-accessible device service providers industry, where the en re-route the output signal from the tracking device to a new website when the user's agreement has expired, thus circumventing the service provider and failing to renew the agreement. Remotely-accessible device service providers are the companies that supply the devices to users or the companies that supply the tracking or monitoring service to users. Service providers customarily provide a report to the user, which supplies all the information the user desires to track. These reports can be received on paper, by telephone, pager, facsimile, or e-mail messages; however, the current trend is to publish these reports on the service provider's website. Website access allows users to almost instantaneously track and monitor their objects at a time that is convenient to them.
Some remotely-accessible devices are designed to be used for tracking and monitoring objects. Remotely-accessible devices are used to supply a plurality of information from the objects, such as location, status, degree of utilization, condition, communications, and speed. One way of transmitting this information from the transponder or remotely-accessible device, which is located on the object being tracked, is to transmit it to a website owned by the service provider. The user is then able to log on to the website with an access code or password and obtain the status report of his object(s). Under current technology, when the user's license, service, lease, rental or commodity agreement has expired, the user's password will no longer work on the website and the user loses access to the status report. At this point, some users will attempt to circumvent the service provider by redirecting the output signal from the remotely-accessible device or transponder to another website. This causes the service providers a great loss in fees, because they should be paid for use of their remotely-accessible devices and services.
For example, the process for relaying tracking information to the user as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,292,724 to Apsell et al. ('724 patent) enables the transponders to send information to a satellite, which relays responses to a ground station and then via the internet to an information-processing-service-providing headquarters which processes the information and provides the information to users by the internet or otherwise. This system does not enable the tracking service provider to be able to prevent the user from circumventing the service provider by redirecting the output signal on the tracking device to an alternate website.
Consequently, there is a need in the art for a remotely-accessible device for which the output signal cannot be redirected to another website by unscrupulous users. This invention solves the problem by disabling the processing of signals at the remotely-accessible device upon the expiration of the user's right